Organizations and other business entities such as, for example, large international corporations typically have a number of widely geographically dispersed facilities and maintain various documents and other official location-specific records at each one of these locations. Such location-specific records include, for example, financial reports, production statistics, and the like for each one of the corporation's separate facilities. Often it is desirable for such locationspecific information to be shared on an immediate basis with each of the related entities for various reasons such as, for example, management issues concerning daily operations of the corporation.
Certain laws and regulations require that any business that meets certain specified criteria maintain detailed safety records concerning all of the chemicals or other hazardous substances that may be used or consumed in the daily course of the business' activities. Particularly, for example, the OSHA Hazardous Communication regulations specified in 29 C.F.R. .sctn.1910 require that every business with ten or more employees maintain a document called an MSDS (material safety data sheet) for each chemical that the business uses or consumes. Large fines and other penalties can be assessed against a business that fails to maintain the MSDS records or other pertinent information in an orderly fashion or if the company fails to make these records available in a certain timeframe to an interested party who requests the information under the community right to know provisions that are written into the applicable laws and regulations.
Typically, companies arrange all of the MSDS sheets that each facility of the company has in three-ring binders. These binders usually are stored in various locations in each facility of the company and are available to the public. This arrangement is suitable for allowing individuals who are in the vicinity of the facility to access the documents that are stored in the binders. However, there are a number of problems associated with storing the MSDS information in this manner. For example, the MSDS information must be periodically updated. Thus, at any particular time, the binders containing the MSDS documents may not contain the most up-to-date version of the documents due to the lag time associated with obtaining and then appropriately filing the new documents.
There are other problems are associated with storing MSDS information in the above-referenced manner. For example, it is desirable for firefighters and other emergency personnel to have immediate and ready access to the MSDS information so that these persons are placed in a better position to handle any emergency situation that may arise at a particular facility. Storing the MSDS information in three-ringed binders at each individual facility does not allow emergency personnel to view the information from a location remote from the facility and, therefore, hinders their ability to deal with any emergency situation that may arise. Storing the MSDS information on an electronic medium such as, for example, a CD-ROM does not address the aforementioned time lag and emergency access issues.